Akita han
- Territory: much of Dewa province
- Castle: Kubota castle
- Lords: Satake clan
- Kokudaka: 200,000
- Other Names: 久保田藩 (Kubota han)
- Japanese: 秋田藩 (Akita han)
Akita han, also known as Kubota han, was a taishin kunimochi[1] domain based at Kubota castle and ruled by the Satake clan. It was a particularly prominent mining domain, producing much gold, silver, and copper which then circulated elsewhere in the realm.[2]
Akita was in fact the chief producer of copper in the archipelago in the early Edo period; copper production declined, however, by around 1700, and by the 1760s, the silver mines of Akita and elsewhere in Tôhoku were considered essentially exhausted.[3]
At the very beginning of the Edo period, the domain was held initially by the Akita clan, until they were transferred in 1602 to a domain in Hitachi province, and replaced by the Satake.
Akita was among a number of domains which supplied troops to aid Matsumae han in suppressing Shakushain's Revolt in 1669-1672.[4]
The domain is also known as the home of Akita ranga, a short-lived but significant school of Western-style painting. Comprised chiefly of daimyô Satake Shôzan and his retainer Odano Naotake, the school flourished chiefly in the 1770s.
Selected Lords of Akita han
- Satake Yoshinobu (r. 1602-1633)
- Satake Yoshitaka (r. 1633-1672)
- Satake Yoshiatsu (aka Shôzan, d. 1785)
- Satake Yoshichika (d. 1857)
- Satake Yoshitaka (r. 1857-1869)
References
- ↑ The Satake did not hold (mochi) an entire province (kuni), but were recognized as being of equivalent power/status.
- ↑ Kobata Atsushi. "Coinage from the Kamakura Period through the Edo Period." Acta Asiatica 21 (1971). pp98-108.
- ↑ Robert Hellyer, Defining Engagement, Harvard University Press (2009), 78.
- ↑ Morris-Suzuki, Tessa. "Creating the Frontier: Border, Identity, and History in Japan's Far North." East Asian History 7 (June 1994). p8.
